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This year will be reneibered i. Yull edvectionel circles for two controversial events - first the coerping of the Duvid Lister hi:h Sehool, the city's first comprehensive school, and secondly, the wbolition of the ll-plus exunmin. tion. ‘hile both of these cvents ure to be reyi.rded as & step in the right direction, it must be understood thet they «re only the first steys in the developnent of «a venuinely comprehensive syste of educ:tion. Th t other steps are to follow anvcars in Fu'l's answer to the "Sunday Tines" query of November 8th. Hull, ve ure told, are "Thin:ing . bout reorganisation; selection at ll-plus by recoiriendation; one comprehensive school, four bein;; built." “hat pattern is to energ in the future is not clear froni such « brief stautencant.
Another jroup vho huve been tiinking about reorsanisation ure the Hull Socialist Teucher's Association ind their conclusions ure to be found in the pamphlet "Go Comprehensive - 4 Plan for Hull." They recomend « three-tier system of educ:tion, based on three stujes:- The primary school stage for oupils frou five to nine years; The junior bi,h schodl for p»upils from nine to 15 yess; The senior hi,,kh school for pupils over 135 yeurs.
The pamshlet emphesizes th. t ticreshould ¢ no selection ut any sti e in « child's school life. As a ener.l rule the primary school should be a neighbourhood school besed on uw -riven catchment aren. 4t the junior high school staje there should ce & senuine intellectual, social «nd geographical mixing of children. This inv.lves a sli,,btly wider «re. or catchment zone than in the orinaery stuje, but care hus been tuken to avoid exvecting nine-yeur-olds to trivel lon, distances, The senior high school would be city-wide and movernnt from the junior high to the senior hizh would .e bused on discu:sions tehin: pluce in the pupil's final year in the junior hi,h school.
In these discussions en individual »ro,recme of study could be worled out for each child, bused on the child's wishes, ,arent's wishes, recommendations of teachers und, if po. ible, the advice of the Youth Employment Service. After these discussions the child would go on to the senior high school best «cle to srovide the studies he or she re ,uires.
Wheat advantaves would urise frou such « comprehensive scheme?
First, the primary school would be freed from the strait-jacket that ll-plus selection has imposed on enlightened teaching. Although Hull haus abolished the exariinution, it nus not wbolished selection and still .:rudes its children into .raumar, technical und modern pupils at ll.
Secondly, the years from nine to 13 could ve spent in one school. The authors of the pamphlet see the junior hi,h school us the crux of the new scheme. This is where the pupil vill be weaned from childhood to adolescence; this is the im ortant diagnostic stage; this is where personal relationships between pupil, veucher and parent will be most important. In 211 ti.ese aspects 13 seeris @ more realistic and humune age than 11 at which to nake assessments of pupils! needs.